The Director, Finance and Accounting reports directly to the CFO and serves as the principal finance partner and the highest-ranking finance leader in the organization outside of the CFO. This role owns the operational backbone of the finance function – accounting, controllership, financial reporting, FP&A, and accounts receivable/payable – across Ascend's global manufacturing sites, while also playing an active role in audit, tax, treasury, board reporting, and strategic transactions. This is a high-visibility, high-scope role for a hands-on finance leader who can build rigorous process and infrastructure, drive accountability across the organization, and serve as a trusted right hand to the CFO on virtually every aspect of the finance agenda.

Financial Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting

• Own the global annual budgeting process and rolling forecasts across all Ascend sites, translating operating plans into clear financial targets.
• Design and institutionalize the calendars, templates, and governance needed to build, update, and hold the organization accountable to budgets and forecasts.
• Partner with site and functional leaders across Operations, Commercial, Quality, and HR to build bottoms-up plans grounded in real capacity, staffing, and cost drivers.
• Develop multi-year financial models supporting strategic planning, capacity expansion, and capital investment decisions.

Performance Reporting, Variance Analysis & Accountability

• Build and own management reporting that gives leadership a clear, timely view of actual performance against budget and forecast.
• Lead monthly and quarterly variance analysis, identifying root causes and translating them into actionable insight for the CFO and executive team.
• Instill a culture of financial accountability across the organization, ensuring budget owners understand, own, and are held to their numbers.
• Develop and maintain a KPI/metrics dashboard covering revenue, margin, cash, and key operational drivers.

Revenue Backlog Conversion & Commercial Partnership

• Partner closely with Operations and Sales/Commercial to optimize the conversion of backlog into recognized revenue.
• Build and maintain backlog, bookings, and book-to-bill reporting; identify and resolve bottlenecks between contract signing, manufacturing execution, and revenue recognition.
• Ensure revenue recognition for CDMO service and manufacturing contracts is applied consistently and in accordance with U.S. GAAP (ASC 606).
• Develop early-warning indicators for schedule or revenue slippage and work cross-functionally to protect the plan.

Accounting, Controllership & Financial Reporting

• Oversee global accounting operations across all sites, ensuring accurate, timely, GAAP-compliant close, consolidation, and reporting.
• Maintain and strengthen internal controls, accounting policies, and procedures across a multi-site, multi-entity organization, including the UK and Germany.
• Own the monthly and quarterly close calendar and drive continuous improvement in close cycle time and reporting quality.
• Ensure balance sheet integrity through a disciplined account reconciliation and review process.

Audit, Tax & Treasury

• Serve as the primary day-to-day owner of the external audit relationship, partnering with the CFO to ensure an efficient, clean annual audit.
• Partner with outside tax advisors to ensure timely, accurate federal, state, and international tax compliance, including cross-border considerations for the UK and German entities.
• Own day-to-day treasury and cash management, including global cash positioning, banking relationships, and lender/debt covenant reporting.
• Support the CFO on capital structure matters, including debt compliance, covenant monitoring, and lender reporting.

Board & Investor Reporting

• Prepare board and investor reporting packages in partnership with the CFO, translating financial results and forecasts into clear, decision-ready materials.
• Support preparation of materials for board meetings, lender updates, and investor communications.

Accounts Receivable & Collections

• Lead the AR function, driving disciplined billing, credit, and collections practices to optimize cash conversion and minimize DSO.
• Partner with Commercial and Legal on contract terms and customer relationships that support healthy, predictable cash flow.

Accounts Payable & Vendor Management

• Oversee the AP function, ensuring efficient, well-controlled disbursements and accurate vendor accounting.
• Own key vendor relationships, negotiating terms and resolving escalations in partnership with Procurement and Operations.

Systems, Processes & Continuous Improvement

• Drive finance systems optimization (NetSuite and related tools), improving automation, data integrity, and reporting efficiency.
• Identify and implement process improvements that scale with the company's growth, including integration of finance processes and systems following acquisitions.

Team Leadership & Talent Development

• Build, lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing global finance team of 6–8 direct reports spanning Accounting, Controllership, Financial Reporting, FP&A, and AP/AR.
• Establish clear roles, career paths, and performance expectations; build bench strength and succession depth across the team.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement within the finance organization.

Strategic Initiatives & Special Projects

• Serve as a key partner to the CFO on ad hoc strategic transactions, including M&A due diligence and integration and debt or equity capital raises.
• Represent Finance in cross-functional strategic initiatives, providing financial analysis and deal support as needed.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field; CPA and/or MBA strongly preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive finance and accounting experience, including significant time in life sciences, pharmaceutical, biotech, CDMO/CMO, or complex manufacturing environments.
• Proven experience leading multi-functional finance teams (accounting, controllership, FP&A, AP/AR) across multiple sites and/or geographies.
• Good understanding of U.S. GAAP; experience with multi-entity, multi-currency consolidation (UK/European entities a strong plus).
• Hands-on experience building and running FP&A processes – budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis, and management reporting – in a complex operating business.
• Experience with contract manufacturing or milestone-based revenue recognition (ASC 606), including backlog and bookings management.
• Track record managing external audit relationships and partnering with outside tax and treasury advisors.
• Experience preparing board- and/or investor-level reporting materials.
• Strong ERP/systems fluency; NetSuite experience strongly preferred.
• Executive presence and excellent communication skills, with the ability to partner effectively with the CFO, CEO, board, and cross-functional leaders across Operations, Commercial, Quality, Legal, and HR.
• Demonstrated ability to build, coach, and develop high-performing teams.
• Willingness to travel domestically and internationally (approximately 25–40%).

Preferred

• Public accounting background (Big 4 or national firm) combined with industry experience.
• Prior experience in a GMP-regulated manufacturing environment.
• M&A due diligence and post-acquisition integration experience.
• Experience supporting a debt or equity capital raise, including lender/investor reporting and covenant compliance.
• Experience operating in a private equity- or venture-backed company.